BookaJet is expanding its European services after adding a new Citation XLS to its fleet. A second Citation Sovereign is being brought into service to help cater to rising demand.

Chris Rooney, director, of BookaJet Aircraft Management Limited, says: "The aircraft will be deployed to meet our clients' needs in the U.K. and continental Europe."

Aircraft in its fleet, based at the Business Aviation Centre of Farnborough Airport, will, by the end of this year, include two Citation Sovereigns, three Citation XLs, a Citation XLS, two Raytheon Premier 1 and a Beech 90.

A Gulfstream 550 is also in operation and will be joined by another on order from the manufacturer, Rooney says.

He adds: "Leisure demand is growing and, as might be expected, it tends to form a bigger percentage of our business in the summer months. The overall ratio, however, is running around 60:40 in favour of business demand."

Citations have proved popular with clients and this influenced the decision to go for a second Sovereign and an XLS.

"We were already managing Citations that are much in demand so we decided to go for XLS to give us that bit more range," Rooney explains. "The Citation is extremely popular and it made a great deal of sense to expand that aircraft's availability. It's a known quantity. The cabin space is user-friendly and a lot of our clients are used to the stand-up dimensions of the cabin. The Citation is an integral part of our fleet."

BookaJet, launched around four years ago, has a fleet that is mainly comprised of managed aircraft. It is growing all the time. "We have grown 40 per cent in the last 12 months," Rooney adds. "We have seen particularly heavy activity recently and it is important that we continue to optimise air time and availability."